H.E. Englert Family Home Movies

Conservation & Capture

Original format: 8mm film, silent

Digital format: Footage captured at standard definition resolution of 720 x 486

Length/feet or running time: Approx. 4300-5500ft

Circa: 1940-1959

Lab: The MediaPreserve

Status: Conservation and digital capture completed. Internet Archive upload coming soon.

Grantee & Collection Custodian:​  W.L. and D.K. Talbott Trust 

Darlene Englert was born in Valley City, North Dakota.  She attended grade and high school in Valley City and received an Associate of Arts degree in business at the Women’s College/University of Denver, Colorado. Darlene had two major careers; a flight attendant with United Airlines and an administrative assistant with The Permanente Medical Group.  She is married to William Talbott. They have four children and six grandchildren. 

Ann Englert was born in Valley City, North Dakota.  She attended grade and high school in Valley City and received a BS in Architecture from North Dakota State University.  She was the first woman to become a registered architect in North Dakota. Ann was injured in a ski accident on Sugar Loaf hill in Valley City.  Ann practiced architecture during her lifetime, but died in 1992 of cancer.  She did not have any children during her married life. 

Filmmaker

Hamilton Englert was born in Valley City, North Dakota in 1909.  He attended grade and high school in Valley City, and completed two years of pre-law at the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks.  Returning to Valley City during the depression, he obtained a teacher’s degree at Valley City State.  He then resumed study at UND, obtaining a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1933. 

He also studied at Dakota Business College and Gregg Shorthand College in Chicago before assuming duties as official court reporter of Barnes County District Court.  

While reporting he studied law under his father, District Judge M. J. Englert.  He passed the ND bar examinations in 1949 and practiced law along with court reporting duties.  Englert was elected district judge in November, 1962, and was subsequently re-elected in 1968 and 1974.  He retired in 1980 after serving 46 years of official duties in the Barnes County courthouse. 

Hamilton married Harriet Lowe. They had two daughters, Darlene and Ann.  He was a talented athlete in the following sports: basketball, football, track and golf.  As a hobby he enjoyed hunting, and began shooting 8mm films in 1940.  Family members and friends are included in the films. Judge Englert passed away in 1998. 

Collection: The films depict ordinary, typical childhood interaction in the 1940s and 1950s.  The Englert family raised a litter of gray squirrels. Harriet Englert was a talented seamstress and designed and sewed most of her children’s clothes.  The reels reflect these home life activities, other family events and holidays, as well as that of the Englert neighbors and childhood friends in Valley City, North Dakota.